In case you didn't see this one, Link, "More ACC Expansion Not Planned":

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The ACC won't add another until ND joins in football. That will force the ACC to add one to give us equal # of teams for divisions or pods. Since I don't expect to see that any time soon, pretty clear expansion is not on the near horizon.

"You start a conversation you can't even finish it
You're talkin' a lot, but you're not sayin' anything
When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed
Say something once, why say it again?"
- David Byrne

The ACC won't add another until ND joins in football. That will force the ACC to add one to give us equal # of teams for divisions or pods. Since I don't expect to see that any time soon, pretty clear expansion is not on the near horizon.

It almost feels like Notre Dame will be holding the ACC hostage until they make a decision to join as a full member. I can see Notre Dame staying a football independent for a long time. It's in their best interest. The ACC and Notre Dame will continue to use each other. It's like a bad marriage that only stays together for financial reasons.

It almost feels like Notre Dame will be holding the ACC hostage until they make a decision to join as a full member. I can see Notre Dame staying a football independent for a long time. It's in their best interest. The ACC and Notre Dame will continue to use each other. It's like a bad marriage that only stays together for financial reasons.

It almost feels like Notre Dame will be holding the ACC hostage until they make a decision to join as a full member. I can see Notre Dame staying a football independent for a long time. It's in their best interest. The ACC and Notre Dame will continue to use each other. It's like a bad marriage that only stays together for financial reasons.

The ACC has taken a gamble on Notre Dame. The ACC has wanted Notre Dame since Gene Corrigan was commisioner in the 80s, and he proposed the current arrangement then. But he didn't get support at that time. The ACC is obviously hopeful that Notre Dame will like the place well enough to come on board if their fans begin to develop rivalries in the conference. At this point half the ACC schools have played Notre Dame less than 5 times ever. If they do decide to consider joining, it will be after hosting every ACC team in South Bend and getting closer to renewal of the contracts in 12 years. What the ACC has done is taken Notre Dame off the market for any other conference.

I don't think that the ACC should be held hostage. The 14 member scheduling is not good. 16 member scheduling is better. The ACC needs to launch this network and analyze whether it makes sense to go past 16 in the future. If it does look like the trend that Gordon Gee talked about (18 to 20 members in conferences), then the ACC can go ahead and get to 16 football with Notre Dame at 17. But we need to get this network going first to pay for it.

If the ACC sees a team they want to add, they should just go ahead and do it. Otherwise, there is no need to add. Notre Dame is not joining the ACC unless a national tournament is created with conference champs ONLY. And I can't see that happening for an awfully long time, if ever.

ND isn't holding the ACC hostage (because they can still add who they chose). If anything, they might be holding "potential school 16" hostage, as they might invest more if they were in the ACC rather than, say, the AAC. But on the other hand, they don't have anywhere better to go it appears.

Originally Posted by Old Line Hokie

It almost feels like Notre Dame will be holding the ACC hostage until they make a decision to join as a full member. I can see Notre Dame staying a football independent for a long time. It's in their best interest. The ACC and Notre Dame will continue to use each other. It's like a bad marriage that only stays together for financial reasons.

The ACC has taken a gamble on Notre Dame. The ACC has wanted Notre Dame since Gene Corrigan was commisioner in the 80s, and he proposed the current arrangement then. But he didn't get support at that time. The ACC is obviously hopeful that Notre Dame will like the place well enough to come on board if their fans begin to develop rivalries in the conference. At this point half the ACC schools have played Notre Dame less than 5 times ever. If they do decide to consider joining, it will be after hosting every ACC team in South Bend and getting closer to renewal of the contracts in 12 years. What the ACC has done is taken Notre Dame off the market for any other conference.

I don't think that the ACC should be held hostage. The 14 member scheduling is not good. 16 member scheduling is better. The ACC needs to launch this network and analyze whether it makes sense to go past 16 in the future. If it does look like the trend that Gordon Gee talked about (18 to 20 members in conferences), then the ACC can go ahead and get to 16 football with Notre Dame at 17. But we need to get this network going first to pay for it.

"Damned if you do, damned if you don't." That's how I've felt about Notre Dame since the day Swofford announced they were joining.

As for 16, I've thought about that too. With existing GORs in place, only a few schools are somewhat attractive from the AAC like UConn, Cincinnati, and maybe USF. If Cincinnati could expand their footprint beyond southwest Ohio and maybe get into the Columbus and Cleveland markets, then they would be a nice addition. The problem is Columbus is the home of The Ohio State University and people in Cleveland hate everything Cincinnati. UConn gives the ACC another team for NYC viewers to follow since southwestern Connecticut is in the NYC TV market. UConn/Syracuse would bring good ratings for men's hoops in NYC. Connecticut with its 3.6 million population has more residents than other BCS school states like Iowa, Utah, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, Mississippi, and West Virginia. Some "hope" that Texas joins the ACC or even 4 Big 12 schools, but that is more unrealistic than UConn or Cincinnati or even WVU.

If the ACC sees a team they want to add, they should just go ahead and do it. Otherwise, there is no need to add. Notre Dame is not joining the ACC unless a national tournament is created with conference champs ONLY. And I can't see that happening for an awfully long time, if ever.

ND isn't holding the ACC hostage (because they can still add who they chose). If anything, they might be holding "potential school 16" hostage, as they might invest more if they were in the ACC rather than, say, the AAC. But on the other hand, they don't have anywhere better to go it appears.

I think the ACC wants no more than 16 and adding 2 more schools with Notre Dame as a football independent might work out nicely now but the day (whenever that day is) Notre Dame decides to join, 17 is a mess and worse than 14 or 16. 16 divides the ACC into 4 pods of 4 teams. Notre Dame can still play their 5 ACC games a year as an independent. How do you evenly divide 17 teams? You can't. That's why I think the ACC won't expand until Notre Dame joins as a full member because the conference doesn't want more than 16 full time members as things stand today. Maybe 20 will be the number after the GORs expire but right now 14 or 16 appear to be the maximum. IMHO, if Notre Dame joined as a full member tomorrow, UConn or Cincinnati would be accepted within a week or two. That's why I sometimes feel Notre Dame is holding the ACC hostage.